Meet Brooke Candy: Queen of Opulence

Bazaar spoke with the rising artist and current muse to Nicola Formichetti about fashion, surrealism, pop culture and more.

Brooke Candy is sweetening up the music scene with shocking visuals and electric, almost robotic vocals. The 24 year-old who got her start as a pink haired, metallic-armoured accomplice to Grimes in 2012 is currently in the studio recording her debut album, Opulence. "I had a difficult life," said Candy, on her life before dropping her mini EP last month, releasing her video for Opulence directed by Steven Klein and playing muse to fashion director and stylist Nicola Formichetti. "I'm trying to portray this feminine and unattainable thing, this elegance that makes no sense with the person I was or am," she explains. In Opulence, Candy raps while driving a car, her entire body covered in glitter and jewels. A dramatic crash nears the end of the video, as Candy chants, "I own everything, baby," while wearing a fur coat, a live cat perched under each arm.

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Drawing comparisons to Lil' Kim, Gwen Stefani, Miley Cyrus, and more famous faces, Candy tells us who she really is—and what she thinks of those comparisons below.

Harper's Bazaar:What decades, cultures or styles do you draw from when creating your image?

Brooke Candy: Right now my style is transitioning. It's all very organic. I've been channeling and obsessing over the 1920s to an early realm in the 50s. Lana Turner, Greta Garbo, Marilyn Monroe, Betty Page—these women are the definition of graceful and that's what I want to be, because of how I've been perceived, and to push boundaries.

HB:What kind of music would you say you're making?

BC: Beyond the music, the movement is almost a new genre. I was having this conversation with my friend: she was like, 'You're creating a new genre because you're starting a new movement.' I think everything goes in cycles and I think that we're on the brink of having another punk rock movement. The world needs another Sid Vicious. When that was happening that was mainstream and it was real. It was righteous and it was fashion.

HB: Can you talk a bit about how you dressed as a teenager and how you came to be Brooke Candy as we know you now?

BC: I was always a weirdo. In high school, I had a mullet and it was purple. Unfortunately, I could never contain myself and I could never dress normally because I never felt comfortable. I've always felt I didn't understand why I needed a reason to dress up or why I needed a reason to look a certain way. Why do I need a reason to be in 8 inch heels and pink f*cking hair with Chanel, or paper body armor? I dress for myself. I like how Salvador Dali looked insane his entire life and then on top of that, he would go on the subway with an anteater. That's how I want to live.

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HB: Who are some of your favorite designers?

BC: I like to support young designers. I love Hood By Air, Ashley Williams and Nasir Mazhar. I like old vintage Muglar, John Galliano when he was at Dior, Jean Paul Gaultier. I like Alexander McQueen. I like anything that is very surreal that tells a story for a girl like me.

HB: What are you listening to now?

BC: Now I just listen to my demos over and over and over again, because I have to get myself into this. Before I record a song, I'll just listen to the demo of it a 100 million times to get myself into the mentality that I am the character of whatever this song is about. I don't really know what's current anymore. I love old soul. I like Nancy Sinatra.

HB: You've said that both Nicola Formichetti and Sia—who you now collaborate with—discovered you via social media. Why do you think that is?

BC: That's the only way they could. I had no money. I didn't live well. I used the internet as a tool to get my ideas out there. I was literally living in my car. My focus was not to meet anyone, my focus was to create art and to create a better situation for myself.

HB:What's it like working with Nicola and Sia?

BC: I always looked up to Sia because she has this grasp on alternative culture and mainstream culture, she doesn't pay attention to anything. She told me, "I don't listen to music. I don't watch TV. I don't do any of these things." After she told me that I started doing that too. It really does cloud you mind.

I looked up to Nicola, since I found out what he did with Gaga. To me, what he did was so larger than life. He created a f*cking product. It's crazy what he did. He's a genius.

HB:What's the main message behind your music?

BC: Empowerment. I want to spawn an intellectual revolution where people like the movement that I start, and then they want to riot. I want people to want anarchy and go against the grain and the traditional way of thinking. We're in the midst of a civil rights movement everyday for women and gays. I spoke to a very famous woman recently about how nice it would be as a feminist to not rely on men at all, in any sense. Women have the power to do everything that a man can do, but still in this day in age you're more powerful as a woman if you have a powerful man on your arm.

HB: On that note, how do you feel when people compare you to other female pop stars like MileyCyrus and Lady Gaga?

BC: It's typical in this industry. There's this thing that people like to do where they pin women against their competition. They're like, "Oh you're the new this." How about I'm just the new me? I'm my own person and I have my own f*cking identity, and how about this: I'm the new Brooke.

HB: What can we expect from your new album?

BC: Every song is a single. I'm trying so hard to just make good music. I've already dipped my toe in the fashion realm, now I want to just focus on making good music, because everything else will come with it. I want to make a timeless piece of art that will speak to my generation and generations beyond that.

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